which is better for gaming?

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Huh?

Its not the process technology that makes a GPU great, its the GPU itself. If I spent the time to look, I'm sure I could come up with a 130nm chip that provides more FPS then a 90nm chip. (more FPS is how I define "better for gaming")

This is a personal pet peeve of mine. The mega/gigahertz myth has finally been busted wide open. Many people are starting to understand that you can't compare CPUs only using clock speed. THIS IS TRUE FOR MORE THEN JUST CPUs!!!! You can't say a 256MB card is slower then a 512MB card. You can't say a 500MHz card is slower then a 575MHz card. You need to look at the card as a whole, process, core clock, memory clock, pixel shaders, pixel pipelines, etc.
 

MayDay94

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Aug 8, 2006
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Huh?

Its not the process technology that makes a GPU great, its the GPU itself. If I spent the time to look, I'm sure I could come up with a 130nm chip that provides more FPS then a 90nm chip. (more FPS is how I define "better for gaming")

This is a personal pet peeve of mine. The mega/gigahertz myth has finally been busted wide open. Many people are starting to understand that you can't compare CPUs only using clock speed. THIS IS TRUE FOR MORE THEN JUST CPUs!!!! You can't say a 256MB card is slower then a 512MB card. You can't say a 500MHz card is slower then a 575MHz card. You need to look at the card as a whole, process, core clock, memory clock, pixel shaders, pixel pipelines, etc.

However, all things (core, mhz, etc) being equal, the 80 or 90 would be better because "generally" less heat which can mean quieter fans and possibly better over-clock. several cpu's have had later revisions with a die shrink and it is generally better to get one of those than its predesserors for the reasons i mentioned above.
 

angry_ducky

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If I spent the time to look, I'm sure I could come up with a 130nm chip that provides more FPS then a 90nm chip. (more FPS is how I define "better for

Here's an example:

X850XT (130nm) > X1300Pro (90nm)
X850XT (130nm) > X1650Pro (80nm)
 

Eviltwin17

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Feb 21, 2006
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If you are looking to overclock the card then 90nm is better because 90nm produces less heat. But you might want to throw a list of cards in here before you make a decision. Right now there are some pretty good deals on graphics cards such as the 7900gto @ $250 and the x1900xt 256. They both offer great performance although i would recommend the 7900gto because it has 512 mb of video ram.
 

Doughbuy

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Yeah yeah, produce less heat, but then there also is the fact about how well the cooler functions on individual cards, whether he will actually OC or not, yadda yadda yadda...

Either way, your question is pretty pointless. Just go with the best gaming card for the price you are looking for, Tom's VGA charts can show you a lot. Don't sweat the small stuff, like the process made to use the GPU. If you want to get all technical, Tom's has a nice beginners guide to GPU's that you can browse through. But we can pretty much list them:

GPU speed, Memory speed, Memory bus, Pixel Shaders, Vertex Shaders

Those are the key areas to concentrate on. Everything else is basically fluff.
 

panzerag

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sorry should have been more clear this was for the FX-55 CPU...and good Lord a simple no response would have been much better than flaming the -es aytch eye tee- out of me...so if my question was pointless why waste your time posting the flame...to asshat flamers F off, and to the people who offered info...Thanks
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Posting the flame??? WTH. I thought I did answer your question. I didn't call you names, I didn't swear, I didn't do anything "flamish"

I'll give you the short answer if it makes you feel better. The process doesn't matter, the GPU does. Does that make you feel better? The problem is that it only answers your question, it doesn't impart any knowledge. This means 2-3 years from now you'll be back asking a question like this again. If you re-read my first post, you could learn something and not come back next wek asking about 128bit memory bus's vs 256bit. (in other words, I prefer to teach fishing instead of just handing out the fish.)
 

zenmaster

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As others have pointed out, your question was off-base completely.
You were not flamed, but attempts to educate where made.

When looking for what to buy always start with home much you "Want" to spend as well as what you "Can" spend.

Also post what system you have currently so folks can judge if you need an upgrade or a new system and what if anything from the old system can be used.

You need to start with what you "Want" to spend because you can keep adding $25-$50 upgrades to take a $500 system to $2500 as you keep thinking to yourself "well for only another $50.....

So if you are trying to figure out what to do, start a new thread stating "I have this". These are the things I do and these are the things I want to do. My comfort budget for the upgrade is $$ but if I had to I guess I could go to $$$.

Everyone will tell your that a Conroe 6800 is far better than an Athlon 3200. However, if your total budget is only $200 we have to be realistic about what we can do to make your current system better. If you are excellent at printing money they we can go hog wild in suggestions.
 

panzerag

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Posting the flame??? WTH. I thought I did answer your question. I didn't call you names, I didn't swear, I didn't do anything "flamish"

I'll give you the short answer if it makes you feel better. The process doesn't matter, the GPU does. Does that make you feel better? The problem is that it only answers your question, it doesn't impart any knowledge. This means 2-3 years from now you'll be back asking a question like this again. If you re-read my first post, you could learn something and not come back next wek asking about 128bit memory bus's vs 256bit. (in other words, I prefer to teach fishing instead of just handing out the fish.)

and it's good to know you'll prolly be here to give me a smart arse response...trust me i've been in the business long enough to answer most of my own questions...just needed a little extra on this because there was a 10 dollar difference in purchase price, and had never payed much attention to the process type until now
 

Doughbuy

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We're trying to tell you in simple words that you have one of the worst worded questions we have ever seen. Now you have learned, and no need to get all defensive. No one on these forums are out there to "flame", and if they were, they wouldn't be on this forum much longer. There are some basic forum rules, which you should have taken time to go over.

We need to figure out what your trying to do before we can make educated suggestions. Otherwise, just from the information you've given me, I will say 90nm is better... just because its more efficent... which would tell you nothing at all.

These days, most games are graphics limited, not CPU limited, so thats where you should concentrate on. Until I know more information, we can't really help you. If you need a new processor, get a Conroe.
 

panzerag

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Oct 11, 2006
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We're trying to tell you in simple words that you have one of the worst worded questions we have ever seen. Now you have learned, and no need to get all defensive. No one on these forums are out there to "flame", and if they were, they wouldn't be on this forum much longer. There are some basic forum rules, which you should have taken time to go over.

We need to figure out what your trying to do before we can make educated suggestions. Otherwise, just from the information you've given me, I will say 90nm is better... just because its more efficent... which would tell you nothing at all.

These days, most games are graphics limited, not CPU limited, so thats where you should concentrate on. Until I know more information, we can't really help you. If you need a new processor, get a Conroe.


this was the kinda response i was looking for...i spose i jumped the gun because i made assumptions about these forumz being like most others where people dont wanna hear what you have to say, and just wanna flame from the get go....anyways.../handshake and /apolgies sent out to everyone i yelled at